The following is an excerpt from Steve Nicol's autobiography, "5 League Titles and a Packet of Crisps." In it, Nicol discusses the end of his time in charge of the New England Revolution in 2011.
I'm proud of my record at the Revs -- 299 games, 110 wins, 108 draws, 81 losses -- but even if I was to get the chance to coach those last two years again -- 2010 and 2011 -- I reckon I'd still have found it difficult to ensure a different outcome.
When you're a head coach there's never a minute of the day when you're not thinking about your team. But when things aren't going well any problems are just accentuated. I didn't tell the players anything different in those final two years compared with my first eight years in charge -- we just didn't have enough guys on the field who were able to follow orders, and that's a scary position for a coach to be in.
We lacked quality in those last two seasons. I failed to fix the issue and that's why, ultimately, I lost my job.
It would be easy to try and deflect blame but it's important that I hold my hands up and admit I got it wrong. I was given permission by the Krafts to spend $1million on a foreign player -- I even held talks with Luis Figo and Gilberto Silva among others -- but I never did find the right one for our club and I wasn't going to just sign someone for the sake of it. Again, maybe that was also a mistake on my part.
2010 was the first season under my tenure that we had failed to at least reach the play-offs so I knew the following year had to be better. During my first eight years at the Revs we drafted really well, but I got very little from the last two drafts that I took part in. Not being able to improve the squad with quality picks, added to the poor foreign signings I made, meant we were always playing with bare bones.
I was sitting in the coaches' room after the penultimate game of the MLS season on October 15 -- having just witnessed our fifth defeat in a row -- when there was a knock on the door.
Revs president Sunil Gulati entered and he asked if my heart was still in it. I didn't say yes. I didn't say no. I just told him I'd hate to go out like this because the team was poor. By that stage I was frazzled and on tablets to control my blood pressure. Five league wins all season meant we failed to make the play-offs but I refused to admit to myself that the end was nigh. My stress levels, however, told me otherwise.
When the call came to go and see Robert and Jonathan I knew what it was about. As I walked in to Robert's office we shook hands, they asked me to take a seat and Robert started talking. After twenty seconds or so I said, "look, we're big boys, I've had a great time here so you don't need to say anything."
From then, the tone changed. "We've loved what you've done here and we're very proud of you," said Robert, "but it's time to move on." I knew I had to move on and they knew I had to move on, but I don't think there's ever been a more amicable parting of ways. Our excellent relationship continues to this day.
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